Goodreads asked R.J. Dearden:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

R.J. Dearden Join a writers' group. Read your work aloud. Take criticism. Work on your characters. Then work on your characters some more. And write whenever the opportunity presents itself. Whilst you're doing all this, be always thinking how you can surprise your reader. And never talk, talk, talk your project away. Some writers spend so much time talking about what they're writing it's not surprising so little makes it down onto paper. Be tightlipped about your current work unless in the security of your writers' group ... or are in the presence of a top publishing house who are waiving their cheque book in the air. It's ok to talk then.

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